Deuce
by SimplyMe2319
Summary: She is a very dreamy girl and an ordinary university student. He is number one tennis player in the world and has lost touch with himself. What if one look could change their lives forever? Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

This is a story a started writing a while back and wanted to get people's impression of it. I own everything; all of it came from my head. Feel free to let me know what you think in all sincerity.

Deuce

Chapter 1

Deuce! He heard the head judge yelling from his chair. He was leading 5-4 in the third set of what seemed to be an interminable first round match at the Rogers cup. He had just lost his fifth match point in a row giving his adversary yet another chance at getting back into that match. He really couldn't see himself having to play another game, and certainly not two more.

Could this be end... he kept running this question in his head and could not come up with an intelligent answer. Never before in his career had he felt so exhausted. And there again if only that could be it, but there was the pressure too. Constant, suffocating pressure, he usually coped with it, but today was the exception.

He saw himself taking the balls, sending one back, placing another safely in his pocket and bouncing the third one on the floor. 1, 2, 3... It all felt so distant from him at this moment. 4, 5... And then he heard it, the crowd, shouting his name over and over again as if they understood what he was going through. Not that is made any sense, but it still gave him that little something he had been looking for all along. At the seventh bounce he took a deep breath and summoned all his will and energy. Now more determined than ever before in that match, he finished his bouncing ritual; 8,9,10! After the last bounce he raised his racquet and the ball together above his head and gave the ball a straight spine ahead.

At the very last moment, he hit the ball as hard as he could and gave it a magnificent swing across the court, where it landed right on the outside line before his opponent even had a chance to move. A perfect ace, his first one of the match for that matter, there was the kind of tennis they all were expecting from him, coaches, players and fan included.

-"Advantage Cortés! Match point!" Said the judge, trying to overpower the noise coming from the assistance.

The fans were ecstatic, no one could blame them; their champion had played like a junior for the past two hours, at least that's what they thought. And somehow, they didn't get it all wrong, for once. No one could explain how he managed to win the first set seven matches to six, nine point to seven. He barely won a couple of point by actually using his skills; the rest was due to sheer luck, and an incredible amount of unforced errors from the English on the other side of the court. The second set, would certainly make history... as one of the worst played set by one of the top 10 players since 1905.

In 1905, number one seat had lost the final of the Australian Open against this player who had turned pro the year before, and was, up until that moment, fairly unknown and low profile. And there again, the loosing part of the deal would have been acceptable if that young player had not won the first set six games to love. Anyways, that is another part of history, and unfortunately... or not, that's not the one we are interested in at the moment.

So, back to our infamous player... it will be said that he made a certain effort to keep up his game, to challenge his opponent in the second set. But this is all a lie, a beautiful and appeasing lie to those who didn't want to face the truth, to those who didn't want to believe that HE had, indeed, lost a set six to one. Altogether, the rough part was not losing the set, but how and when it all happened.

Tennis tournaments all work the same way, whether there be 128 players or 32, it all comes down to the same formula. The first matches are played in the first, second and third rounds some go up to four, then its quarter- finals, semi-finals... and so on and so forth. The draws for the first round are made so that the 4 top players in the tournament don't get to meet before the semi-finals, and most of the time they get a bye for the first round. Basically most of their first matches in major tournaments, like the grand slams and the master 1000, are played in the second round, where they usually meet up with players from lower ranks, beginners for the most part.

There laid the problem in the case of our player. The odds were all in his favour, and he should have never lost this set, or so they say. But all the same, he managed to come back in the game for the third set, and there he was facing a sixth match point after an amazing shot, the shot of the match, for him at least.

He could still hear the fans, his family, his friends and his coach yelling, and cheering like he had already won the game. He forgot all about them the second he rescued the other ball from the pocket of his bleu Nike shorts. Just like he had done for the previous shot, he bounced the ball on the ground, one time, two times, three times... focusing on the task ahead of him, winning that match before it was too late. After ten times, he reached high above his head with the ball and his racquet, through the ball in the air a second time, and hit it with everything he had.

This time, youngster Nick knew what was coming, and to everyone's surprise manage to return the ball with an amazing backhand, but Alejandro was ready for it. He swore to himself that he would not lose that point, and returned the ball with his forehand with such power, pushing his opponent far behind his base line. Just like he had predicted, the British nearly missed his next shot, and taking advantage of the distance he had forced upon him, ran to the net and smashed the ball in a perfect diagonal. The ball bounced one time on the right part of the court, near the net. The poor player ran for it, as hard as he could, but it was too late the ball bounced a second time and went off-court. That's all he needed, he threw himself on his knee, his fists clench and waving at the sky in sign of victory, or was he thanking who ever could hear him up there to have given him the chance to get back on track? Who knows...

- "Game, set and match Alejandro Cortés", shouted the men in the big white chair, but this time no one listened to him, not that they actually did the time before, and all of a sudden massive confusion spread across the arena. Some were cheering and applauding, hard enough to make anyone who was standing near go deaf. Others were jumping around, hugging each other hoping that the tension would wear off. Lastly, some, very few, were crying; young English player had lost yet again and would be going home in the next couple of days, his presence not required in Montreal anymore.

As he walked back to his seat, hugging his defeated opponent and shaking hand with the referee on the way, Alejandro replayed the match in his head, still not believing that he had won, that this torturous 2 hours and 15 minutes was finally over. He didn't give any attention to the crazy, overexcited crowd; except for when he threw away his wrist and head bands to the fans up in the stadium. He sat down, to stop his heart from racing, drank a bit of water and packed his stuff in silence. He didn't feel like talking to anyone just now, all he wanted to do what to get back in the locker room, have a long shower and get some sleep, it was now way past midnight after all. And contrary to the popular myths, athletes are not super heroes, each and every one of them had his limits and in the end, they all needed to sleep after a long and painful day at work, and this day had been one of those.

Of course, that being said, he knew there was no way this was ever going to happen, he would have to cope with his trainer, give an interview, answer to some crazy journalists' questions, and only after that would he get that shower and that long deserved sleep. He was undoubtedly happy, that he couldn't fake or hide, but there was something stronger than that happiness raging inside him, and this was hanger. He couldn't bring himself to accept that he had won in such a disgraceful manner. What kind of tennis player was he to abandon faith in the middle of a match, certainly not the kind that deserved to be considered as the number one player in the world. Yes, he was the best player of the time, after two years as number two; he had finally made his way to the top seat about six months before. Today, more than any other since that frantic moment, he felt like he didn't belong there, like he should have never climbed in the rankings in the first place. At this precise moment, he would have believed anyone who would have told him that there had been a mistake in the compilations of points, and that he wasn't the best after all.

Trying to leave those depressing thought behind, he stood up, and went straight to the locker room, ignoring the fans that were standing on top of the entrance waiting for an autograph. Something he had never done before and he couldn't feel sorry for all the young heartbroken kids out there, not today.

***

At noon, the next morning, Alejandro jump in his sleep, and laid eyes open hoping that if he ignored his alarm it would stop by itself. He rolled in his bed, trying to go back to sleep in an ultimate attempt to repress the utterly displeasing noise coming from the desk of his five star hotel room. After five minutes of torture, he finally decided that it was no use, and that he should shut the damn thing off before the whole floor came rushing to check if he was still alive. Slowly, but surely, he stepped out of bed and headed for the alarm clock with one idea in mind, smash it into tiny little pieces. After the first couple of steps he realised that his body was in a general state of aching, he hadn't felt so bad after a heated match in a very long time. Good thing he didn't have to play again that day.

On the way back to the bed, he stopped in front of the mirror and stare as his reflection for a couple of minutes. He was tall nearly six feet two, but that was not unusual for a tennis player. Being from Spain he inherited of the natural tan of the Hispanic cultures. He had well defined muscles, with all that training... but it was nothing massive or pretentious. He had brown, messy hair not too long, but not too short either, not that he really cared about that. The real deal about him was his eyes; they were what placed him above any ordinary guy, without making him a top model. Everyone agreed that they were the most beautiful eyes they had ever seen; they were blue like the ocean, the perfect dreamy bleu of an undisturbed sea. And not until much later did he realise the effect they had on people.

He stayed there until he realised what he was doing, what kind of man stares at himself in front of a mirror, really? He thought. He looked at the mirror one last time, only to see a sad reflection of himself, he really looked like a mess. He hadn't got a chance to get to bed before three thirty, due to a never ending lecture about how to play tennis by his coach, followed by an even longer interview. He searched his room, looking for proper clothes, the first thing he found was a set of blue tennis shorts and white tee-shirts marked with the Nike logo in the same electric blue, all off the same model; he rarely wore the same set of clothes to play more than two or three times, and that's because he was Eco-Friendly as one might say. Same with the racquets, he could even change it twice in a match, and would never use those again. That's what happens when you get sponsored by Nike and Wilson. Once he had found a polo shirt and a suitable pair of pants, he got dressed, attempted to fix his hair, although it didn't change much of anything and headed to the Uniprix stadium, host of this week's tournament.

***

What else do I need? Alejandro Asked himself while he was walking from court to court, checking on the different matches that were being played. He had everything any athlete could ever wish for; he was first in the rankings, he had awesome sponsors, the world's best coach, a great family and a fantastic career. He could play tennis, his favourite sport, for a living and that was not given to everyone, especially not at the young age of 23. He shouldn't even be asking this kind of question, but he could think of two things; the first one he wouldn't get before long, and the second one was not even a possibility at the moment, and probably wouldn't be for the next couple of years. First, he needed vacations, desperately! The second was not something he needed as much as something he wished he could have; a girlfriend and maybe even a family of his own... How could he even think of that when he was on the road all the time, what life did he have to offer to any girl?

It was not like he didn't always have a pack of girls ready to go out with him, from the 16 years old fans to the mature celebrities, but he wanted none of that. None of these girls who liked him because he was famous, a great tennis player; they would all get tired of him one day, when fame would slowly desert him. What he wanted was...

It's at this exact moment that he saw her for the first time, sitting with a friend at one of the dining tables of the lunch area. There she was, the girl he had been waiting for, although he wouldn't understand that until much later.

***

Chapter two as already been posted, please review

Thanks for taking the time to read, it means a lot to me


	2. Chapter 2

Again, this is a story a started writing a while back and wanted to get people's impression of it. I own everything; all of it came from my head. Feel free to let me know what you think in all sincerity. You should all know what thanks to **fangsorfur97, **who got me to think about her name again, ** now as a name, she is Violet Marsh. So I have updated the chapter and replaced all the ** with her real name.

Chapter 2

-"... So he told me the he would rather go by himself than have to wait for me. Can you believe this, what an idiot! So I stood up and left his room without another word. I had to walk all the way back home, what a pain... I got hit by elephant on the way, and I saw a flying cat and dancing flower in the park! Are you listening to me or what??"

But she wasn't paying attention to her friend or to anything else for that matter. Violet Marsh was daydreaming... again, she spent more time in her thoughts than in reality lately, and it was slowly starting to affect every aspect of her life. Her friends, for example were getting tired of talking to her, in fact it felt more like they were talking to a wall than to an actual person, and in that moment Halley would have preferred the company of the wall. No one knew exactly what was going on with her, it was true that she had always been a dreamer, but it all got worse after her 20th anniversary, or maybe it was after her last "love story" ended drastically, nothing really happened, like most of the other ones, sometime before her birthday. It was probably a mix of both that made so miserable at the time, and so instead of facing her reality she escaped in her dreams, where she probably met a knight in shining armour, or a courageous prince, certainly a combination of both.

- "oh, sorry about that, I was..." said Violet in an attempt to justify herself.

-"Lost in your thoughts once again, yeah I know," replied Halley sharply, "honestly I don't know why I agreed to come with you. Here all of places, you dragged me to watch tennis and you don't even bother paying any attention to me. What the hell is going on with you, you'll have to talk to someone at one point, you can't go one like this, she added in a softer voice. Why don't you take this opportunity to open your heart for once, it would do us both a lot of good I think."

-" I know it's just not that easy, and... "

- "Okay, will you cut the crap with me please?, we've been friends for how long now?"

- "Almost ten years."

- "Right, thanks! I know you well enough to have a good idea of what's going on, but I can't help you if you're not willing to help yourself."

She sighed, and said in resignation:

- "It all started when..."

So, on she finally went with the whole thing, and she explained that she was afraid that she would be alone all her life, that she would never find a man who liked her for who she was, and how she was. Even if it was somewhat true that most of her latest crush has turned out pretty badly, she was the only one in their circle of friends that could say she didn't go out with the first moron who had been attracted to her. Her friends even thought that her belief that a real and pure love could be found had saved her from falling into that trap. For her part, she believed that this same belief had brought her where she was right now, alone!

What she would not admit to anyone was the subject of her latest dreams, if it could be called as such. It was one the reasons why she absolutely wanted to be there and she was now starting to think that it had been pretty stupid of her to imagine her dreams could become reality. He doesn't even know that I exist, how could he possibly be interested in me? He can't she thought... it now seemed to obvious to her. Oh, how wrong she was!

- "That's it", was the only thing Halley could come up with when Violet was done talking. "Do you realise how worried we all were? I knew you were going to tell me something like that, but I never expected that! I'll tell you one thing, and then I don't ever want to hear you complain about you singleness..."

- "Singleness?!?! Is that even a word?"

- "Who cares, that's beside the point anyways. The point is: you are far off better alone than with someone who doesn't treat you like you should be treated, someone who doesn't give a crap about you or your feelings. Believe me; I would rather stay alone than be with one of those jerks again. Now, you should appreciate the luck you have, until the day your prince comes. We all know that's how it will be for you, you the first," Said her friend touching her arm in an attempt to comfort her!

- "You're probably right."

- "No, No! I am right Violet and you better damn take note of it, because I won't repeat it a second time!" Standing up as she said that last sentence. "Are you coming or what, I certainly didn't came all the way to Montréal to sit at a table all night and didn't you say that this was like "the match of the day" or something?" she was now standing 10 feet away for their table.

Violet stood up, leaving her untouched salad on the table, she wasn't hungry after all. Her friend was right this was the match she didn't want to miss, it was sure to be a great one. She caught up with her friend and together they walked toward the central court. They made a very funny pair to look at; she was tall, maybe 5 feet 7, and Halley was short, 5 feet 3 or 5 feet 4 at the most. Halley had long black hair, sometimes wavy sometimes straight, but always perfectly matched with her style of the day. She had dark skin, not the natural one, the one that I like to call the neon light bulb one, but again it suited her better than anything else. To make a long story short, she was the beauty, and Violet usually felt invisible in her presence. Not she minded that, she didn't like to be the center of attention. She, for her part, had shorter light brown, almost blonde, untreatable hair. She either had to straighten them or use an iron to make them curly, but most of the time was time she was too lazy for any of that, so she tied them into a ponytail. Today, she wore them straight, Halley had done the all the ironing job for her! The only thing they had in common was their greenish brown eyes. Their build, has you can imagine, were quite different; Halley was slim as for Violet, she could not considered as fat neither as slim she was at an equilibrium state between the two, the perfect balance with her height. Altogether, she considered herself as ordinary, and her friends considered her as being the natural beauty.

***

They had been sitting in the stadium for 20 minutes now and the previous match was still on. Violet couldn't wait anymore; she had been waiting the whole week for this... the whole month even. In fact, she had been waiting since the moment they had bought their tickets at the beginning of the summer. Truth to be told, she was crazy about tennis she was always up to date with the stats and the rankings. She spent most of her free time traveling to assist the biggest tournaments near her hometown: Ottawa. No wonder she was always out of money, with university and residence, they all wonder where the hell she found sufficient incomes for all that.

When the infamous match ended after 40 minutes, she was literally bouncing on her chair, unable to stay put for more than 5 seconds at a time. Halley didn't know whether to laugh or be supportive, she had never seen her friend in such a state of excitement before.

-"what's the big deal with this guy anyway?" she asked giggling. "It's not like is any different from all the other players?"

-"Maybe not, but I am telling you he is the MAN with a Capital everything. And besides, looks aren't the only things that count you know"

- "yeah, well you don't even know the guy, how can you comment his personality. You read too much fiction; you need to come back on earth missy, look at yourself!"

She had a point there, Violet was like a five years old on the day of his birthday; uncontrollable! After what seemed like an eternity to her, they finally announced the first player... A certain Nick something something from England that was all she could remember, she didn't really care about him anyways. And then... then... there he was; Alejandro Cortés coming from the locker room, getting ready for his match.

- "He is the one!!" said Violet without thinking.

- "keep on dreaming girl!" Replied Halley laughing!

***

Alejandro was standing there, like mesmerized, there was something about her that attracted him like a magnet. They had never met before and yet he felt the urge to go sit at their table and introduce himself. He probably would have if he hadn't been knocked down by a kid who happened to be running in the isle at the exact moment. He sat there for a minute, knocking some sense out of himself, unaware of the commotion around him. When he finally opened his eyes he realised what he mess he had created in the dining area.

Most the chairs had been tossed away; some even lay on the ground where people, in a hurry to check on him, had let them. Not a single person remain sited, they were now packed around him, waiting for him to let them know he was okay. In the general confusion dishes, bags and sun glass had been dropped in the floor so much so, that he was probably in the safest position right now, on the ground not moving an inch!

When they realised that he had finally opened his eyes, they all started talking at the same time. Some tried to ask how he was, others were simply relieved, and they all seemed to believe he had been unconscious although he remained in a sitting position the whole time. In the massive cacophony two voices stood out. The first one was that of a woman holding a sobbing child, the one he had bumped into him he presumed. She kept on saying how sorry she was, that she had been telling him not to run around like that. He tried to tell her, that he didn't mind, that he was fine, but no words came out of his mouth. So all he managed to do was squeeze her hands and nod to let her know that he held no grunge.

The second voice was like a melody to his ears, a caring voice so soft it sounded almost innocent, childish. Ignoring every other sound, he tried to locate its origin. Almost immediately, he found what he was looking for and frowned; she was there kneeling next to him with a worried expression on her face. He was like stuck in the moment, he didn't know what to tell, he didn't even know her name and yet he wanted to find the words to appease her. All he could do was staring into her beautiful greenish brown eyes and give her his most sincere smile.

- "are you all right there", said the man in front of him, "need a hand?"

The man held out a hand, and within 10 seconds Alejandro found himself on his feet again. Now back in total control of himself he said in his irresistible Spanish accent:

- I'll be fine, thank you all for your concern and I hope to see you all for my next match!

Being the Gentlemen he was and being in a better mood than the previous day, he stayed to sign a couple of autograph. During this time he found out that the very helpful man was named Henry and that he was there to see his son play in the junior tournament. The poor mother was Evelyn and her son was Max, they stopped saying they were sorry once he showed the little boy he could still swing his Racquet. Politely, he excused himself, tried not to look at the girl again afraid he would do something stupid, spontaneous. He used to be a very funny and spontaneous person, but he seemed to have lost this part of him somewhere along the way.

The girl, for her part, was shocked. She couldn't believe it, how could it be that he stared at her that way, he even smiled to her. It can't be, he must have been at someone else, she thought. She sat in disbelief while her friend was helping cleaning the mess this whole thing had created. Everything happened so fast, she was having a really hard time understanding exactly how the event took place. She didn't want to get all crazy about it, but that's who she was, always getting her hopes up for nothing, always daydreaming. Later, her friend would tell her to forget about the whole thing, that he probably was still dizzy from his fall. She would find a stack of excuses, all better than the other, about why she shouldn't bother too much with it. The girl would certainly believe her and try to forget about him, but he was Alejandro Cortés and right now all she wanted was enjoy her 30 seconds of glory.

It didn't matter to her that he had almost lost his lass match, she had now totally forgotten about the emotions of yesterday.

The girl, as you might have already guessed, was none other than our own Violet Marsh.

***

That afternoon Alejandro trained as hard as he possibly could, sending ball after ball on the other side of the practice court to his coach who just wasn't fast enough to keep up with him. He hadn't felt so good in a very long, even with all his muscles aching. He didn't really understand what was going on with him, but he liked it, and so did his coach. The only thing his game was lacking was focus; sometimes he was impossible to disturb, but the rest of the time his head was somewhere between earth and the moon. He blamed it on the shock of falling down, happy to keep the truth to himself since he had the perfect excuse for his behaviour. He was probably the only one to know that he had never fell hard enough for it to affect him in any way, and still is to this day.

Much later that night, he lay awake in his bed, unable to go to sleep. No matter how hard he tried to forget about her, he kept seeing her face whenever he closed his eyes. He had never felt so mesmerized by someone before, her voice totally hypnotized him. As far as he was concern he didn't remember seeing such a beauty ever before, and he had seen some of the most gorgeous women on the planet. And as he thought about her, trying to guess what her name could be, he drifted into a peaceful sleep.

***

In a smaller room, three floors down, Violet was having the similar thoughts; the only difference being, she knew exactly what his name was. Halley was in the shower so she was allowed to dream all she wanted without having to face her reprimanding look afterwards. She let her thoughts go from one magical place to another trying to figure out the most romantic way for him to introduce himself to her. She was completely cut out from the outside world; she had her I pod playing her favourite song from Blue October. She couldn't remember the title but it went like this:

"I want to swim away, but don't know how

Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean

Let the waves up take me down

Let the hurricane set in motion yeah

Let the rain of I feel right now come down, let the rain come down"

She suddenly remembered the title; it was into the ocean. And whilst listening to the lyrics for the first time that night, she also remembered why she liked so much; she had felt like that so many times before. The ocean is the ultimate metaphor for sadness.

She was elaborating schemes to get him to speak to her when she realized that Halley was standing above her with a reproachful expression. She increased the volume of her music, ignoring her completely. Halley went to her own shaking her head, laughing at her friend.

***

Thanks for taking the time to read.

This means a lot to me, so if you have any comments feel free to tell me what you think I am opened to anything you have to say.

mc


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next day, when Alejandro made his grand entry on the main court, he could only hope that she would be there to watch his match. He had no idea whether she had been at the last one, but he was convinced she knew about it at least, everyone did. Somehow, he felt that he had to make up for it, not only for her, but for all his disappointed fans. He noticed happily that the crowd cheered with the same enthusiasm as before when his name was called. They hadn't totally lost faith in him, and he had recovered faith in himself. He didn't care who was on the other side, the only thing he wanted was wining. His last match had left an open hole in his pride, and he.

As he was getting ready for the match, gathering towels and racquets, placing his bottles in the ice bin behind his chair, he searched the crowd. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for, or rather why he was looking for her. The stadium currently holding more than ten thousand excited viewers he couldn't trace her down and he sadly figured that she wasn't there. Shoving back this thought he went to the east side of the court, ready for the five minute warm up.

Serving first in this match, he took three balls, choosing two carefully and sending the third one back where it came from. He was dribbling the first ball when he felt like someone was staring at him intensely. He usually didn't bother with it; he was in a stadium full of people who would be staring at him for the next two hours, but pushed by some irrational fear, he looked up. There she was sitting in one of the many mezzanine rows, he couldn't tell which, her beautiful eyes staring at him. He stared back, forgetting about the ball... and he smiled at her without thinking. He felt the ball leaving his hand just in time to control its movement. With a new energy he made the ball bounce 10 times on the ground and served for the first time in this match. The ball flew in a perfect diagonal and bounced on the court at a speed of 125 mph. The poor German on this other side could have teleported himself that he still would not have had time to hit it.

- 15/love, announced the judge.

It all happened so fast that half the stadium was looking away and the other half was not paying attention. Upon hearing the judge they finally realised; the match had started with a beautifully executed ace from Alejandro. Within seconds the crowd was cheering and whistling, the fans were clapping so hard the stadium was shaking. Alex was thrilled; there is nothing better to get a champion pumped than opening the first game with an ace.

***

Violet had been sitting there since the beginning of the afternoon, and she could help but staring at him from the moment he came on court. She was desperately hoping that he would look her way.

- I don't think I have ever seen you like this! Even if, and I say if, he wanted to see you, he probably wouldn't find you in this crowd. Said Halley laughing at her friend once more, it was rapidly becoming a habit.

Violet knew she was right, but she could still wish, could she? One might think that she liked to torture herself with all of this, and you've only seen the beginning... The match was finally about to begin, she was getting impatient; eager to see if he was in a better shape than he had been two days ago. Unexpectedly, he looked up at her, or was he looking at someone else, then he smiled. It was most sincere smile she had ever seen, as if he was really happy to see her. He went back to the game as fast as he had looked in her direction. Now, more confused than before she didn't know what to think, he couldn't possibly be looking at her. She had millions of questions running through her head at the same time, it was making her dizzy.

Violet's body was shaken was intense wave of heat and she suddenly felt shaky and excited. She looked at Halley, that didn't help. Her expression was as confused and dazzled as hers. They both looked at each other in pure amazement and confusion.

-You're the reasonable one of us; please tell me I didn't just saw what I think I did.

-As much as I would love to, I don't think I can. I'm just as confused as you right now.

- 15/love, announced the judge.

This was enough to bring Violet back to reality, and soon she joined the crowd cheering as hard as her lungs would allow her. After that she desperately tried to get forget about that by concentrating as hard as she could on the match. It worked, for a while, but the match didn't last half as long as she expected. Soon, Alejandro and the 19 year old German were replaced by two other players. Less than two hours later the afternoon matches were over and too soon for her own taste she found herself in the dining area once again. There is one thing I failed to mentioned (what a bad narrator I make), Violet is not only a big fan of Alex, but a big of tennis in general. It may seem as though she was only there for him, which you already know is true in a way, but she was also there for the sport. She could really appreciate the beauty of the sport, she knew all the stats by heart, checked the rankings once a week and religiously followed all the major tournament. She was even an amateur player, but being as clumsy as she was well... you can imagine it did not always end in a good way. Most of the time, she was a fairly decent player though.

***

Alejandro was trilled, he had made one of the best come back in the history of tennis. After playing so badly in the first round, he rolled through the second one, securing his place in the third round. He felt bad for the qualified Australian who would have to start all over again in the next tournament, but that was all part of the deal. He had won the first set 6 games to 0 in about 35 minutes, and the second one 6 games to one in less than 45 minutes. He even made up for being a jerk the last time, by spending 15 minutes signing autographs after the match. The smiles he got from the youngest fans, kids for the most part, eased a little of his guilt. He loved signing autographs for them, drawing funky faces beside his name.

-"Man, I don't know what the hell you did before your match, but it certainly worked. That poor guy didn't stand a chance" Said Fernando to Alejandro while they were walking back to central court.

- I know, but I kind of feel bad for him, he really did the best he could.

-Why do you always have to be such a gentleman, can't you just enjoy the glory while it's there.

Alejandro ignored his last comment, although he knew he was right. He was lucky to be so talented, and he should just enjoy it, but that was not who he was. He didn't like to brag and felt strongly about those who did, he thought in all honesty that they were a bunch of jerks. Fernando was another player from Spain, very talented, but still not enough to ever make it into the top ten. He would never say so, but he envied Alejandro very much. He would get pissed at him for saying things like that, but deep inside he wished he could be that humble.

-"Whatever you say", replied Alejandro, "I'm not the one who needs a lesson in humility..." he dropped the last bit knowing that he had touched a sensitive cord.

Alejandro had once been a light-hearted person, and still was not so long ago. He had somewhat lost that part of him when the rankings had changed. He had found himself overwhelmed by pressure since then and it was playing with his mood. So, he had lost his wonderful smile and his laugh had lost its sincerity.

- "What are you staring at like that? Or should I say who??"

Alejandro hadn't noticed that he was not walking anymore until Fernando came back, to tease him. He now realised that he had been staring at the girl again, luckily she didn't seem to be looking their way. Violet really wasn't looking his way, in fact she had no idea that he was even near her for she would have probably hide behind Haley not to face him.

- So... which one is she? If I didn't know better I would say the short, tanned and very sexy one, but I believe she's not exactly your type. I am wrong? Then, I shall go for the taller, cute brunette! Said Fernando, visibly amused by this whole thing.

His friend didn't say anything, not that he didn't want to, more that, at the moment, he was unable to. He was standing there, petrified, his mind racing trying to determine whether to talk to her or not, imagining hundreds of different ways to introduce himself, all lamer than the previous one. He was glad that she wasn't looking in his direction, he wanted to smile at her and see her smile back, but he also doubted he looked very intelligent standing in the middle of the way like an idiot. And let's face it, he was not totally wrong. He had this spaced out look on his face, with his eyes looking up, his eyebrows twitched a little and his mouth forming a straight and hard smile. You know the look you get from concentrating too hard or when you get totally lost in your thoughts. In the present case it was a bit of both, a mixture of intense reflection and total helplessness.

- Don't tell you are actually going to stay there and stare at her while she passes by. I know you have lost touch with reality lately but that's not a reason to act like a goof. Go talk to her for god sakes, what are you? A secluded, lonely and socially enabled chess player...teased Fernando, oblivious to Alejandro's internal debates.

Either the comment made its way to Alex's mind or he finally came back to earth, but our famous tennis man seemed to have finally wakened up from his trance. "I am no secluded chess player; I am Alejandro Cortés, number one tennis player in the world. If I can give conferences and interviews in front of dozens of journalist, play tennis everyday in stadiums filled with fans, I can certainly speak to a cute girl... very cute girl. No, no, no... Focus Alex, focus!!" With these thoughts he left his friend and marched towards the girl.

Marched is no overstatement here, he walked like a roman soldier at the times of Julius Caesar in her direction, until he realized that he had nothing intelligent to say to her. Or maybe it is due to the fact the he literally bumped into Violet while blinded with fierce determination, forgetting to look where he was going. It all happened so fast, one second she was falling towards the ground at an incredible speed, the next he had his right arm around her waist securing her on her feet. Silently thanking the long hours of training and his tennis reflexes, he knew, now that he could release her, that she was safe, thanks to him, although he had been the one who put her in danger in the first place.

Yet, Alejandro didn't release her, he stared at her, longing for eye contact, and Violet stared back. Her green eyes locked in his perfect blue ones. They stayed like this for what seemed like eternity, not saying a word just looking intensely at each other. Beside them, Halley watched the whole scene in disbelief. A little further away, a very amused Fernando was running towards them, unable to stop laughing at the craziness of the last three minutes.

***

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